By the way of background, in the food processing industry breadings are commonly applied to food products before cooking in an oven or fryer. The breadings are generally cereal/grain based, typically thermally processed, ground coatings which may contain seasonings. Usually, a liquid batter is applied to the food product before breading and in many applications pre-dusting with flour or the like is a first step of a coating process before batter is applied to the food products. Pre-dusting may also be an intermediate step in more complex breading processes, examples: batter followed by breading; pre-dusting followed by batter coating followed by breading; and batter followed by breading, followed by pre dusting and again batter and again breading. “Pre-dust” material is typically flour, commonly wheat or corn flour or a blend of the two and is considered a particulate coating. Some breading machines are able to handle both free flowing bread crumbs and non free flowing flour used for pre dusting while on the other hand machines may be dedicated to one or the other type of coatings. The belt-less breader of the present invention, using quick change horizontal augers, handles both. The use of pre-dusting and batter is to ensure good breading pick-up and coverage of the products' surfaces. Breadings are used to enhance food products by supplying texture, flavor, color, appearance and target weight. The economic value of the products are measurably increased from the breading treatment.
Over the past many decades and presently, except where drum type breaders were used to tumble typically small product piece sizes (for example: shrimp) which can be handled in bulk, the breading equipment employed though out the food processing industry relied upon conveyor belts on which the products were carried. The products rested upon a ‘bed’ of breading material also carried by the belts. As they were being conveyed, in certain instances, the products often were tumbled or rolled on the conveyor belts to improve coverage of the top and bottom products' surfaces, especially for difficult, oddly shaped products In some instances mounted over the principal conveyor were overhead breading distribution belts. These were employed to supply additional breading materials to the products as well as to the bed of breading materials. Rollers or additional top belts positioned above the main conveyor belts contacted the products to set the breading on the products surfaces and in this manner achieve the desired breading particle adhesion on the food products. Once the products had traversed the prior art breaders the excess breading materials were shaken or blown off from the products and the breading materials were recycled. The breading beds carried by the conveyor belts were also recycled. Dough balls were also removed and segregated. These were formed naturally as clusters from the breading, batter and product juices coming together during the breading process.
The required clean up and maintenance costs of breading equipment employing belts can be quite substantial and a significant burden to the plant operator. Conveyor belts are prone to deformation, jamming, tearing and stretching and other forms of malfunction or failure during their operational lives. Furthermore, breader conveyor belts, their running surfaces, associated sprockets and drives are difficult and time consuming to clean as required by governmental sanitation standards. These parts are costly to replace and their replacement results in expensive down time for the processing plant. Moreover, conveyor belts may also contribute to degradation of the crumb due to the grinding action between the moving belts and non-moving elements such as belt supports
Many food products differing in shapes, sizes, textures and weights have been successfully treated with batter and breading. For example, consider vegetables, fresh meats and poultry in varying shapes and moisture content as well as formed chicken patties, and nuggets that are common in the market place. Cut fish products and extruded fish products as well as precooked bone-in chicken or ravioli are all good candidates for treatment by breading. Of course this list is not all inclusive but is an example of the range of food products that are enhanced when passing through the breading process. The present inventions disclosed herein, an improved breading process and a belt-less breader that enables the process, handle these food products very well and in an overall more efficient, economical and improved manner than does the prior art. This contrasts with belt-type breaders that are known to require frequent belt adjustments sometimes daily or more often.
There are a number of food products that can be more efficiently handled in the processing line when the products move in a defined pattern such as in a straight line or other pattern from station to station including a breader. This has benefits in the handling of the products.
The invention disclosed herein includes a belt-less conveyor of the differential impulse horizontal motion type. Conveyors of this construction are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. No.: 5,351,807 Drive mechanism for a linear motion conveyor; U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,897 Drive mechanism for a linear motion conveyor; U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,757 Differential impulse conveyor and method; U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,548 Differential impulse conveyor and method; U.S. Pat. No. 6,216,850 Cyclically powered conveyor with flow leveler and U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,363 Seasoning system and method.
In a broader context these conveyors are sometimes categorized as cyclically powered tray conveyors, a category that also includes vibratory conveyors. However for breading applications it has been shown that differential impulse conveyors are much superior to vibratory conveyors primarily because in differential impulse conveyors the tray motion maintains the integrity of the breading mixture and avoids particle segregation. In contrast, with vibratory conveyors the breading mixture on the vibratory table stratifies rapidly with fine particles migrating downwards and the larger particles rising to the top. The end result over time is a non-uniform coating appearance and ultimate wastage of breading since the fines must then be removed and discarded from the system instead of adhering to the product being treated. A vibratory conveyor typically may have a tray stroke between 1.5 mm and 12 mm with the longer strokes operating at lower frequencies. The tray imparts an upward and forward motion to the products on the tray but when the tray returns to its original position the products are out of contact with the tray. This is undesirable with fragile breaded products for the reason that the vibratory motion tends to shake the coatings from the food products. Overall a large objection to using vibratory conveyors in breading applications is the segregation of the crumb and build-up of crumb and coating on the tray. An exemplary vibratory conveyor is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,277. A differential impulse horizontal motion conveyor has the valued advantage that the tray is largely self cleaning owing to the wiping action of the breading movement along the pan. This does not occur on a vibratory conveyor tray and there is often build-up of batter and wet breading material which adheres to the tray.